TENNIS WORLD

Roger Federer's hopes of retaining the ATP World No. 1 ranking in coming weeks took a major hit Wednesday night when he suffered a shock first-up loss to new Indianapolis champion Gilles Simon at the Rogers Cup.
Federer twice held a service break in the final set agaist Simon but paid the price for more than 20 unforced forehand errors en route to a 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 defeat.
Should World No. 2 Rafael Nadal win the Rogers Cup this week, the Spaniard would have the chance next week at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati to dethrone Federer, who has held top spot in the South African Airways Rankings for 234 consecutive weeks (since February 2004).
“I had some missed opportunities that cost me dearly in the end, so it was a disappointing match today," Federer said of his loss to Frenchman Simon, the early leader in the US Open Series due to his victory in Indianapolis last week.
“It's important to stay positive. The hard court season just started. It's the start of, what is it, nine months of hard court? It's not the end of the world, but I wish it could have started better.”
Nadal is 770 points behind Federer this week but could cut that lead to a mere 275 points should he win the Rogers Cup, which he did in Montreal in 2005. While Nadal could take No. 1 in Cincinnati if he reached the final and Federer again bowed out early, any change at the top is unlikely to happen before August 18 – two weeks after Cincinnati - due to a calendar shift this season to accommodate the Olympics.
Last year, ATP Masters Series events in Canada and Cincinnati were played two weeks later in the season than they are being played this year. Because points earned by players count towards their rankings for 52 weeks, the 850 points Federer earned last year by reaching the Canada final and winning the Cincinnati title will continue to count towards his ranking during the same Masters Series tournaments this year.
Come August 18, those 850 points will no longer count towards Federer's ranking. In contrast, Nadal will drop 230 points (225 points for reaching the Rogers Cup semifinals in 2007 and five points for losing his first match in Cincinnati in 2007.)
Federer and Nadal have been No. 1 and 2 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings every week since July 25, 2005 when Nadal became No. 2. Federer has ranked a record 234 consecutive weeks at No. 1 (since Feb. 2, 2004) and Nadal for 157 straight weeks at No. 2.